Let’s Create - Skills - Holding Space
Holding Space
A key skill identified by all the artists was that of being able to hold space effectively for the expression of multiple ideas and opinions.
This is a challenging thing to do well, ensuring that people feel safe to express themselves. The idea of holding space as a skill has been drawn from all of the artists talking about the need to be generous and share power between everyone in the room.
Quotes from the research
“There's something around debate and different thoughts and ideas. So being able to hold and encourage that. I think that's a major skill. People come with difference of thoughts, opinions, politics, and so to be able to make sure that it’s a safe and inclusive space, the skill to be able to hold that well feels important… to hold the difference of opinions, the difference of thoughts in the room.”
“You need to sometimes gently close someone down in order to create space for someone else and that's where the ‘yes and’ comes in. If you’re improvising or if you’re in a group discussion. Because you can say ‘yes, Malcolm thank you and Derek what do you think?’, you know, you can sort of pass it on to the quiet person. So that skill is your ability to manage different personalities within a group so that everybody has an equal capacity to input ideas.”
“If you picture the room, there's a kind of centrality to the leader, right. There's a lot going on. And I think people are orbiting in really different ways, but I think you are almost always the centre of that orbit whether you like it or not. Now your positionally in that can be really problematic. So if we accept it and are aware of it, then there's something about the generosity of that place and the way you share power and hold the space.”
Listen to the podcast
with Tanushka Marah
Tanushka Marah is an award winning Theatre Director and founder and Artistic Director of ThirdSpace Theatre which is a youth theatre company based in Brighton. She previously founded Company:Collisions, a physical theatre company whose work toured nationally. Their production of Medea toured internationally as did their street theatre shows. She also works as a movement director and facilitator. More recently she has taken up writing.
